In autumn 1915, despite having suffered more than two million casualties and losing Kovno, Warsaw and most of Russian Poland, the Russian forces had not given up. Their army was still growing in size and their new defensive line, running close to Riga all the way to the Dniester River and the Romanian border, held considerable advantages over the ungainly Polish salient. It was 250 miles shorter, allowing for the creation of reserves behind new defensive positions, and was made up of superior defensive terrain (lakes, rivers and forests).
However, by mid-September 1915, German forces had pressed forward with the ultimate goal of capturing the Russian Belarussian city of Minsk. General von Garnier’s VI Cavalry Corps captured the Russian towns of Vileyka and Smorgon. German units also approached the west of Minsk, while others penetrated to the east, attacking a bridge along the Beresina River south of Borisov. On September 17, the German 10th Army surrounded the Russian Lithuanian city of Vilna (now Vilnius) and occupied it a day later.
Between September and October 1915 the Germans also made several attempts to capture the Russian Latvian city of Dvinsk (now Daugavpils). Fierce battles were fought along the Russian Dvinsk positions, particularly on October 16 during a heavy artillery battle, but ultimately the Germans were repulsed.
The Russian forces enjoyed similar successes defending Riga (now the Latvian capital) and on October 25, 1915, The Times reported that the “Russian crisis [had] passed”. Indeed, the relative lull in the fighting on the Eastern Front during November seemed to prove the paper right. On November 12, 1915, the Supreme Commander of the Eastern Front, Paul von Hindenburg, met Kaiser Wilhelm II and threatened to resign if the Kaiser insisted on capturing Riga and Dvinsk. Two days later German forces retreated from Riga but continued to press their attack against Dvinsk into December.
Russian forces enjoyed a considerable successes along Lake Drisviati, penetrating German lines on December 15, 1915, but the advance was short lived and they were soon repulsed by a German counter-attack.
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By the end of 1915, though the Central Powers had made considerable progress on the Eastern Front, they had not enjoyed a decisive victory. At the start of the new year the Russians quickly demonstrated their amazing abilities of recovery and were still very much a vital Allied combatant in the Great War.